The Soundtrack to Growing Up: Kathryn D’Costas coming of age

If you love songs that feel like the soundtrack to girlhood, the kind filled with first crushes, quiet heartbreaks, impossible daydreams, and the strange uncertainty of growing into yourself, Kathryn D’Costa is an artist worth paying attention to. At just 18 years old, the indie pop singer-songwriter has already developed a sound that feels remarkably thoughtful, weaving together the sweetness of young love with the messier emotions that come with figuring out who you are and what you want from life.

On September 22, D'Costa released coming of age (older and wiser), a seven-track album that feels almost like flipping through the pages of a diary you wrote years ago and somehow still recognize yourself in. There is something delicate about the way she approaches her songwriting. Her melodies are soft without feeling weightless, and her lyrics capture the kind of emotions that can feel enormous when you're young: wanting someone who doesn't want you back, wondering whether you've made the right choices, being afraid of what comes next, and slowly realizing that growing up means you will not always have the answers.

I first came across the album’s title track, “Deep Blue Ocean,” on TikTok, and it immediately pulled me in. There is a hazy quality to the song, carried by D'Costa’s vocals and the atmosphere surrounding them. Her music feels like standing alone in the middle of a field of wildflowers while the wind moves gently through the grass—dreamy, warm, and a little bittersweet. It has the softness of an old memory, as if you are looking back on a version of yourself that you haven't completely outgrown.

Her sound reminds me of early Billie Eilish mixed with the emotional sincerity of Conan Gray. On paper, that combination might sound strange, but somehow it works. D'Costa takes the intimate, almost whispered quality of indie pop and pairs it with songwriting that feels deeply personal without becoming overly dramatic. There is a sense that she isn't trying to manufacture emotion; she simply lets the feelings exist as they are.

“Ode to Your Existence” explores the particularly painful experience of watching someone you care about fall happily in love with somebody else. It is the quiet kind of heartbreak, the kind that doesn't necessarily have a dramatic ending. You are happy that they're happy, but somewhere beneath that happiness is the selfish little thought you wish you didn't have: I wish it were me. D'Costa captures that contradiction beautifully, turning unrequited love into something tender rather than bitter.

Then there is “The Art of Living,” which feels like a reminder that growing up is not the same thing as suddenly knowing what you're doing. Life has a funny way of making us repeat mistakes we were certain we had learned from. We stumble, get our hearts broken, make choices we later question, and sometimes wonder why we haven't become wiser already. But perhaps that is part of the process. The song embraces the idea that there is no perfect way to navigate your life. Making mistakes doesn't mean you are failing at growing up. Sometimes, living means making a choice, standing by it, learning from what happens, and continuing forward even when you are unsure of where the road leads.

“The World From My Window” carries a different kind of coming-of-age feeling. It captures that strange space between wanting to stay somewhere safe and feeling the pull of everything waiting beyond it. Looking out through a window can make the world feel both incredibly close and impossibly far away. There is comfort in remaining where you are, but there is also a quiet excitement in imagining what might happen if you finally stepped outside. The song feels hopeful in that way, a reminder that growing up can be frightening, but the future is also full of possibilities we cannot see yet.

That is what makes coming of age (older and wiser) so easy to connect with. It isn't just an album about being young. It is about the uncomfortable, beautiful period of becoming someone new while still carrying pieces of who you used to be. D'Costa writes about love, mistakes, uncertainty, and hope with the kind of sincerity that makes the songs feel less like stories being told to you and more like memories you somehow lived yourself.

At 18, D'Costa is still at the beginning of her own story, but there is already a clear sense of artistry in the way she translates the complicated emotions of growing up into something melodic and intimate. coming of age (older and wiser) feels like a collection of moments caught between childhood and adulthood and the realization that maybe you are going to be okay after all.

Kathryn D'Costa is an artist to keep an eye on. If this is what her coming-of-age era sounds like, it will be interesting to see where she takes us next.